Glads as Knights

Glads as Knights...Gladys Knights...get it?

Anyway, here's some pictures I took before chasing Brady Calla around the building, no thanks to Malcolm Cameron.

Michael Forney.


Chad Denny.

Gladiators to affiliate with Blue Jackets as well

From the Columbus Dispatch:

The Blue Jackets will have a new ECHL affiliation this season, the Dispatch has learned. The franchise will send two or three players to the Gwinnette [sic] Gladiators of the American Conference's South Division.

They are the second team to pull out of Johnstown this summer. Colorado was the other. More evidence that Johnstown is on shaky ground. Financial stability is mentioned in the article too. I wonder if they will even start the season.

The Blue Jackets don't have a lot of guys turning pro this year, which you can tell by how much of their Traverse City tournament roster is invitees. So I don't think you'll see a lot of players sent to Gwinnett. But it will help Gwinnett's roster, there's no doubt about that.

The Blue Jackets' AHL club is the Syracuse Crunch.

(Join me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/HollyGunning)
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Gladiators, start your mustaches

Last night in Charlotte, the Gladiators clinched a playoff spot. The players had already decided more than a week ago that they would all have mustaches for the playoffs after Matt Siddall brought one back from Chicago. Adam Berti got a jump on things last weekend, and has been showing off his plentiful lip hair:

Kaleniecki has his going, as do Southern, Youngclaus and Turner. Mason has a beard that can be converted. Jeff Pyle is ready for playoffs year-round.

After the clinch I asked alternate captain Andy Brandt, who has some scruff going, "time to get the mustache, huh?" He said "some guys have them already and the guys who don't better get started. There are a couple guys who are sparse up top there. Mine personally comes in red, so that's not too attractive."

The first-round home games are Thursday, Friday, Sunday, April 16, 17 and 19.
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Former Georgia Tech goalie Rice backs up Gladiators

This has some local interest, so I'll post it.

Normally when the Gladiators are short a goalie, they call on Curtis Ryser, a former UGA goalie who lives in Duluth. Ryser was out of town this weekend though, so the Gladiators had an emergency backup to their emergency backup.

Coach Jeff Pyle called up a guy he knows from a local men's league and asked for a referral for a goalie. He was given Nick Rice's name. Rice played for Georgia Tech a few years ago, for their club hockey team (Div 3).

Rice did a fine job opening and closing the door tonight. Easy money.

2009 Gladiators Teddy Bear Toss

Tonight was the Gwinnett Gladiators' annual Teddy Bear Toss.

What the heck is that, I wondered as the crowd filled in.

This guy is loaded for bear, er ... bunnies. I would venture to guess he's been married most of his adult life.

It's not easy being green.

Nor being sand and mauve-colored. Stoezer laughs as he shows this soccer ball to Sully. Hey, this isn't an animal.

The bears actually rained down on a no-goal. It was this guy's fault, as he had an itchy goal-light finger. But given that the Gladiators only scored one actual goal mid-way through the third, maybe the premature toss wasn't so bad.

Team photographer Dale Zanine takes a picture of mascot Maximus swimming in the bears.

Mottha f'ing snakes on the mottha f'ing ice.


Awwww. Stoeszer with a heaping of bears.

Near the loading docks the boy scouts bag up the bears. And dragons. Ah, so that's what that yellow thing was.

Sadly, not everybear made it.

Note to Gladiators readers: As previously mentioned, the rate of posting on this blog is going to go down drastically. I've created a thread at HFBoards in which to discuss the team. I'll post information in that thread from time to time (tonight it will be who's starting the next three games). Please join the discussion there. I will also sometimes post information on NHL prospects in the ECHL at my new blog. But if you continue to come just here, you will be disappointed.
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Saving Boudreau for the shootout

There was a small storyline tonight at the Gladiators/Stingrays game. Ben Boudreau, son of Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, has managed to stick with the South Carolina Stingrays for 19 games now, in large part due to the injuries at the top of the system on his dad's team. But Ben isn't let out on the ice much. The Stingrays are playing short-handed, but they still only found a couple shifts for Boudreau. He doesn't have the experience or skill typically found in the league.

Boudreau at warmups.

Here (center right), he's ready. And waiting. As far as I could tell, he got one shift in the first period, and one in the third. He didn't play in the second.

That made for rare photo opportunities.

Short shift, he's right back to the bench.

Stand, sit, wait, cheer (center left).

The two teams went to a shootout. Lo and behold, coach Jared Bednar sent Boudreau out to shoot. He had a chance to be a very unlikely hero.

But it was not to be. Instead, Joe Fallon was victorious.

Are we teammate or are we dancer?

After the game I was waiting to talk to Bednar, and Boudreau was the first one showered and out of the locker room. He said "hey, how ya doin" as he walked by. Later he came back in, probably to get more bags, and asked who I was waiting for to make sure I was taken care of. That was really nice. If I knew him at all (and was quick enough on the draw), I might have teased him about being saved for the shootout. But we're not on those kinds of terms.
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Gladiator transactions will be more confusing

In Atlanta, when a transaction says Chicago, it means the Wolves, not the Blackhawks. That will change and become more confusing now that the Gwinnett Gladiators have affiliated with the Blackhawks (due to the demise of the Fresno Falcons).

Four of the five assigned to the team were in the lineup tonight: Adam Berti, Adam Hobson, Jean-Claude Sawyer and Brennan Turner (who is on a Rockford contract). Goaltender Joe Fallon did not dress. Not only did the four start the game, they're listed as the top line on the whiteboard in Jeff Pyle's office:

Berti - Hobson - Siddall
Kaleniecki - Schell - Fox
Fuller - Bateman - Brant
Sullivan

Turner - Sawyer
Engel - Mason
Cava - Marchesi
Dunne

IR: Stoesz (3-day), Dunne (7-day), Youngclaus (30-day).

Here's that top line together on the bench.

In general I prefer there to be fewer ECHL teams so that the talent is more concentrated. There's more NHL prospects per game that way, and often better hockey (though not necessarily). But you like to see teams come and go in the offseason, not the middle. It's sad to see teams fail.

In all it's a bonus for me to have the Blackhawks send guys. I try to cover as many NHL prospects in the ECHL as I can, which results in me having worn a spot on the wall outside the Gladiators visitor's locker room. With this move, several western-based prospects have come east, which more than makes up for neither Dayton nor Elmira bringing anyone when they came. I'm interested to see Fallon and then what rookies they send in the fall. Fallon is rated 19th on Hockey's Future's Top 20 from August, the only one of the group to be ranked. It's hard to make the Blackhawks Top 20 with as deep as they are.

Indeed, the fact that the Gladiators were willing to take five from Chicago/Rockford is an indictment of Tampa's ECHL group. There were only four of them after Augusta folded and no other ECHL team would break up their team to take them all together. Mississippi has a couple of them now.

Hobson, Sawyer and Siddall enjoying a laugh after the whistle.

Injured tough guy Myles Stoesz helped organize the defensemen behind the bench looking very dapper. I think the more you know Stoeszer the funnier this was. But I think it will help him see things better to be back there.

Here he's yelling and you can see his new bottom front teeth. Josh Engel did some coaching too, motioning goalie Josh Johnson to come to the bench at one point.

Sawyer struggles with his helmet. He played on the power play and got some shots off. That's really where he's best fit. Last year when I watched him on Pensacola, the rest of his game left a lot to be desired.

Hobson. He played really well, very effective doing the little things. I think he gave Stoesz a hug when the Glads tied it up. (He's a former teammate).

Tonight though I was most interested in Scott Jackson with Mississippi. He was drafted quite high -- 37th overall in 2005, unsigned by the Blues and picked up by Tampa. He turned pro this year and getting little ice time in Norfolk, was sent down. I was prepared to determine what it is about him that scouts got wrong -- why a No. 37 pick failed -- but I came away thinking he could still make it. He struck me as a little young for his age in talking to him, but I didn't see any major flaw. Before the game, I thought the interview might be tough, the inevitable why are you here. But he scored the game-winning goal so he was in a good mood. The question of what the scouts got wrong can't be answered yet. It really is a five-year process and we're only three and a half years in.
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Stoesz breaks opponent's leg in fight

Myles Stoesz has injured a few players with punches over his career. But tonight Michael Couch came out of a fight with Stoesz with a badly broken leg. According to Mississippi coach Steffon Walby, the toe of Couch's skate got caught in the ice, and he fell backwards breaking both his left fibula and tibia. Since the fight ended with Stoesz on top of Couch, it wasn't just Couch's own weight that broke it, but Stoesz's as well. Landing a whole body on him, not just a punch.

In the NHL of course, this would all be just a "lower-body injury," and thus not a very interesting story. (Speaking of lower-body injuries, we saw Van Buskirk in the elevator and he said he left the game with a charley horse.)

I didn't pull out my camera for the actual fight, though I certainly would have had enough time given how long they danced beforehand. But here are a few shots of Couch in pain and being helped off.





Both teams headed out tonight for Biloxi. Here's all the gear the Gladiators had ready to go before the game.


Biloxi is known for gambling, so I asked Stoesz about his casino wear, thinking that there was ever a chance be flashy (as he's wont to do), it's at a casino. He said he doesn't wear anything special, just whatever he was already in. This disappointed me. No snakeskin shoes? He said no, and they aren't lucky at the casino, just the rink. And he won't be hitting the casino on this trip, even though he turned $100 into $400 playing roulette last time. He said it's getting close to Christmas and he needs to spend his money on gifts instead.

He does plan to wear the lucky snakeskins to the next home game though. I'm putting him down for a win guarantee.
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Ripple effects from Augusta in the South Division

The now defunct ECHL Augusta Lynx's top players have found homes -- Mike Brodeur to the AHL Rochester Americans (where he was headed regardless), Patrick Bordeleau to the AHL Albany River Rats, and Matt Auffrey to the ECHL Florida Everblades.

But the Tampa Bay Lightning have yet to place their ECHL prospects with another team. The two that remained with Augusta when it folded (Chris Lawrence and Kevin Quick) were recalled to their AHL affiliate Norfolk, where they are practicing until reassignment. Tampa is trying to find a home for them close to Norfolk, and have contacted the Charlotte Checkers, Gwinnett Gladiators, and even Trenton Devils about placing them. The sticking point is that they want to keep their guys together, four of them (Lawrence and Quick plus goaltender Riku Helenius and presumably Justin Keller). Gwinnett coach Jeff Pyle was very skeptical that they'd find a team willing to take all four. Charlotte coach Derek Wilkinson said "probably not" to that possibility, and said in his own case, "We like our team. We didn't want to blow it up."

And you can probably scratch South Carolina off that list as well, with as many guys as Washington and Hershey already send down.

There are still some other Augusta players who may find homes in the division. Pyle said of his own potential roster moves, "There's a D out of Augusta, but I don't really want to bring him in. Find out if Josh Engel's coming back and go from there." Pyle thinks that Augusta's players aren't upgrades from what most ECHL teams already have. The Augusta Chronicle had reported last week that Gwinnett had interest in Bordeleau, but as mentioned above he got picked up by Albany.

On somewhat of a side note, Wilkinson is still very bullish on Brodeur's NHL potential. He had recommended him to the NY Rangers as a depth pickup this summer, and Brodeur was invited to Hartford's camp, but he didn't pass the physical due to a concussion. I've always liked Brodeur myself, having interviewed him when he was with Greenville (and the Blackhawks).

Onto the broader question of could another Augusta happen -- could another team fold? Wilkinson for one is worried. "I am," he said. "I think we need to be. The whole division needs to be real concerned. Mississippi is on an island. Poor Mississippi, their second year back after disaster, how do you survive if you're them? 80, 90 nights on the road. I'm really concerned. I hope there's a plan. I haven't heard of one yet. Because I don't see how it works. Columbia's not coming back yet, they're a year away if they get their building built. I don't know how you run a division so far apart. Yeah, I am worried. I go on record to say that -- I'm very worried."
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Augusta folds -- first ECHL team to fold mid-year

I'm saddened that they couldn't get things worked out. Unlike the NHL, the ECHL doesn't have the kind of budget where it can keep a team afloat for most of a year. The revamp of the schedule is going to be the worst part. It will mostly effect the South Division, which includes the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Augusta Suspends Operations

PRINCETON, N.J. – The ECHL announced that the Augusta Lynx have suspended operations, effective immediately and voluntarily relinquished their membership back to the League.

The move comes as a result of the Augusta ownership group being unable to continue to operate in 2008-09.

“We are very disappointed for our fans, league partners and the other member teams of the ECHL,” said ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna. “The ECHL would like to thank the Lynx fans for all of their support.”

Augusta players will immediately become unrestricted free agents.

Choosing the highway, by Bryan Esner

On Friday, the Gwinnett Gladiators traded Bryan Esner to the Augusta Lynx for Travis Fuller. I attended Augusta's home game on Saturday, and sometime in the second period realized I hadn't seen Esner on the ice. I asked coach John Marks about him afterward. Knowing that Esner almost didn't report to Gwinnett when he was traded there from Phoenix, I suspected I already knew where he was.

Where's Esner?

He's not coming. He's going home. Because of the shaky ground we're on. Is the team gonna be there or not be there? 'I'm gonna go home, think about it. I'm not sure if I want to continue to play or not.' And we need a center, we need a guy who's got a little pizazz and get up and go. He was my leading point-getter last year in Pensacola. He competes like heck. Jeff's had him on the wing and he's not a winger. He's been unhappy there.

Had Esner asked for a trade out of Gwinett?

Yes he had. His agent called me and I said 'OK, I'll call Jeff (Pyle).' He didn't want to play on the wing. He's not built for the wing. He's a little guy who's built for open ice. I asked Jeff what he needed and he said he needed a left winger. I said 'who do you want?' Because we hadn't been scoring. He said Fuller, and I said fine. Travis may go there and do very well. But he only had two goals [for us].

What's Fuller like?

He's a good kid. He got a taste of the American League I think last year. He wears his heart on his sleeve, works pretty good. I think he's been squeezing the stick like a lot of other guys.
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I suspect this is why we saw Brad Schell on Esner's wing last Friday night. That it wasn't to just change things up.

Esner has been suspended by Augusta, but they still hold his rights. The Tampa Bay Lightning told the St. Pete Times that Augusta has found the money it needs to keep going, but it's unconfirmed by the Lynx yet. Given that the Lightning/Lynx relationship is new, and lots of miscommunication can happen in that situation, it's best to wait for confirmation.

Lightning GM Brian Lawton said Sunday the Lynx did get the cash infusion needed, though that could not be confirmed.

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Strangest interview location

I've interviewed people in situations that were slightly odd before. Sitting on a dolly for one. I interviewed skills coach Kenny McCudden in a darkened room under a spotlight because it was the only quiet place we could find. But tonight I think takes the cake.

So I'm in Jeff Pyle's office and he's commenting on the game. Someone knocks on the outside door, and being the nearest to it, I open it to let them in. It was Coach John Marks from Augusta, coming to talk to Jeff. He made himself at home while the rest of us were talking -- washed his hands in Jeff's bathroom. I had intended to go down to the Augusta locker room to find Marks later anyway, so since he was there, I told him I'd like to talk to him after he was done with Jeff and that I'd wait out in the hall. He said "No, let's do it now. Let's go," and stepped back into the bathroom to get away from the conversations still going on around Jeff's desk. So we talked about Tampa prospects in Jeff's bathroom.

And there's nothing like a 6-2 loss and a really rough week to bring honesty to a coach's mouth. He said some rather scathing things about the two players. I was surprised, but he doesn't have anything to lose at this point.

One interesting thing that affected tonight's game is that Mike Brodeur was supposed to start in net for Augusta, but sometime between this morning's skate and warm-ups, his shoulder started bothering him too much to go. So Riku Helenius, who had stayed out longer this morning than one would want a starter to do, had to start instead. That probably affected his game. Marks was still critical, and of the bad-angle goals in particular.

For the Gladiators, Kevin Nastiuk was listed on the roster (as if returned from Providence), but EBUG Curtis Ryser was there instead. I asked Pyle about this, but was not satisfied with the answer. Hmm.

I also asked Pyle why he started seven defensemen tonight. He said the backline was a little banged up. And that he can move a D to F, but not the other way around.


Mike Brodeur.

Riku Helenius

Turkey bowling
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Gladiators extras

Three funny things from last night after the Gladiators game. First a quick note on the lines.

I noticed Brad Schell was playing wing and asked about it, thinking maybe he hurt his shoulder again or something.

"I just threw him and Foxy and Nesy together just to kind of change things up," Jeff Pyle said. "Put Grahamer on the left side with Sully and Brando. Just change the lines around to...I wasn't sure really why, just try something different. Sometimes when you give guys a different look it energizes them a little bit. It makes you think differently and it motivates you sometimes."

Regarding the Matt Siddall incident, which resulted in a game misconduct, I remarked to Pyle that I didn't remember ever seeing a skater get in an actual fight with a goalie.

"I have," Pyle said. "My first fight was with a goalie. But I didn't do anything -- I got hacked from behind so I swung my stick at him and I missed him, and the next thing I know, the gloves come off."

This happened in the USHL, around age 17. Attempting to bring things back to the present, I suggested that he learned from the experience.

"Yes you do," he said. "I learned that he has to take his mask off before I start swinging. He had a cage and he put it up like this when he was coming at me, so I threw a punch and hit him right in the nose, and his mask came back down. I wasn't going to quit punching, so I kept punching and cut the shit out of my hand."

(This story shouldn't take away from how irritated he was at Siddall for his actions though. Siddall popped his head into the office because he had been told to, and the interaction said plenty.)

I headed into the locker room and seeing Hoops, asked him to go get Scheller for me. He disappeared and a couple minutes later, a doe-like face appeared. I looked at the kid, and quickly put together what had happened. Hoops had suckered Jeff Dunne, who just played his first game of the season, into thinking he had an interview. I smiled at him and said, "I asked for Scheller," upon which he went immediately after Hoops. Funny, but I still didn't have Schell.

Eventually I found Scheller on the exercise bike, where Brando was giving him a hard time about watching TV. I asked Schell some questions that I intended for my game story, but since he knows I normally don't write game stories, he didn't take them in the context of the game and gave more general answers. It was my fault for not specifying, but I did enjoy one of his answers. I asked how the team felt with goaltender Josh Johnson back there.

"Good," he said emphatically. "He's a competitor. He works hard, he's the one who put us out last year in the playoffs with South Carolina. He's a great guy to have in the room, he's got some experience, and he battles in practice just like he battles in a game. You see that coming from a goaltender and it makes you work hard in front of him. He'll be good for us. He's in my carpool too."
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Desbiens update and a few photos

The Winnipeg Sun has a feature on Desbiens, with accompanying video. Desbiens now has eight points in 15 games from the fourth line.

A strong start notwithstanding, Guillaume Desbiens has no illusions about his role with the Manitoba Moose.

Through 13 games of the American Hockey League season, Desbiens easily qualifies as the biggest surprise on a roster that boasts plenty of top-end talent.

And a few photos from the Gladiators SOL against South Carolina. I was hoping to talk to Josh Godfrey, but he got called up to Hershey yesterday.

Myles Stoesz, now with facial hair.

Matt Siddall.

Josh Johnson.

Stoesz reassigned to the Gladiators

Per the AHL transactions page.

Stoesz played no games for the Wolves. The Gladiators do not play again until next Tuesday, at home against Charlotte.

My guess is that Jeff Pyle asked Chicago to keep Stoesz until he decided who he wanted to get rid of. ECHL teams have no wiggle room on the roster.
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Gladiators still in flux

At this point last season, the Gladiators roster was basically set for opening night. Not true this time. They are still missing significant pieces of the puzzle, with players still at AHL camps. Dirk Southern is in Manitoba camp, but due to a groin pull, isn't going anywhere right now. Brad Schell is still in San Antonio, as they decide whether or not to keep him. If they do, they'll probably do a 25-game tryout contract, which would be nullified if he was sent down. If he signed a regular two-way SPC, he wouldn't be able to be called up by any other AHL team. I think Schell is smart enough not to sign that type of deal by this point. He'll get a chance somewhere this year, even if it's not San Antonio.

Also note that Schell's immigration paperwork isn't finalized yet.

A few photos of today's practice:



Pyle expects just one player to be sent down from Chicago, Myles Stoesz.

Some may have suspected rookie Matt Siddall to be sent down. The topic of him is a can of worms so big that no one in the know even wants to talk about it. But from what I've gathered over the past year, he's the Milan Bartovic of 2008, though that won't make sense to many people. Anyway, Siddall may need to invest in more ties for as much as he'll be wearing a suit in Chicago.

Nastiuk and Kowalski, who were of course partners in net for the Florida Everblades. I interviewed Nastiuk in 2006 when he was under contract with Carolina. He didn't strike me one way or another. He's got an AHL deal with Providence now.

The Gladiators have three goaltenders in camp, the two above plus Charlie Effinger out of Miami of Ohio. Pyle said that someone will need a goalie soon, and that's when they'll be in good position to trade. He is afraid if he keeps both Nastiuk and Kowalski, they'll both be called up and he'll be left with no goalie. It's a legitmate concern. It looks like K-Wal may be the odd man out.

Pyle has room on the roster to keep three for now, but won't all year. On a side note, recall Sean Fields being held hostage by the Utah Grizzlies last year -- not playing and not being traded. It was Jason Christie, now the Wolves asst. coach, who oversaw that. Small world.

Jake Anderson in yellow, John Anderson's son, who is in camp on a tryout. He was the fourth yellow jersey, and practiced with a mish-mash line. He seems unlikely to make the team.


Goaltending coach and rink manager Al Blevins was out helping push pucks around. He'll be helping out with practice as much as he can this year, and intends to work with the goalies at least twice a week. He said the goalies are really gung-ho about it. He won't go behind the bench at all though.

After practice in the lobby, when I was talking to Al, he was wearing a Michigan hockey t-shirt (he was recruited by them but decided to go the junior route, which he regrets). Effinger walked past and gave him crap about the shirt. Michigan is a CCHA rival of Miami of course. Al said that Dave Caruso used to go ballistic when he'd wear that shirt too. He said Dave finally got so fed up that he walked into his office one day and plunked down a Ohio State t-shirt for him to wear. So he wears that now too. Al said that if Effinger keeps giving him crap, he'll tell him "There's only one way to solve this -- get the old man a t-shirt."

On a more serious note, Al said that Effinger reminds him of Caruso in that he's so aggressive in net. He's twitchy as all get out for sure. He never stops moving.
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Caruso beats out Frazee for spot in Lowell

As predicted in July, Dave Caruso, a native Atlantan, beat out NJ Devils prospect Jeff Frazee for a spot on the AHL Lowell Devils opening roster. It will be Caruso and veteran Scott Clemmenson in net for Lowell. Frazee was assigned to ECHL Trenton today. Frazee was also beat out of a job by Thrashers prospect Alex Kangas last fall at the University of Minnesota.

You can watch Lowell's game tonight via AHL Live. See yesterday's post on that for more info.

Painchaud to ECHL and reading material

If you didn't previously understand that what was returned in the Mathieu Schneider deal were contract dumps, maybe this will clarify. Chad Painchaud was assigned to the ECHL Bakersfield Condors today.

A couple other interesting things to read while we wait for final rosters on Wednesday:

A sports radio guy in Dallas got to be an assistant coach for the Stars for a night in preseason and writes about it.

Gare Joyce of ESPN.com wrote a long piece on how the economic troubles will impact sports. I haven't gotten all the way through it yet, but I will. I'm very glad that neither of my jobs have anything to do with the markets, housing, or retail, and both are doing well financially. Whew.

I ran into ECHL linesman Rob Montepare at the Thrashers game Saturday and talked to him almost the entire second intermission. I spent all summer, and into the fall, looking for joy of hockey. That guy has it. Note to self: get his number.

Oh, funny thing Rob said -- Jeff Pyle showed up to talk to the ECHL refs convention wearing a garbage bag and a ref's helmet.
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Schell and Nesbitt doing well in Rampage camp

From the San Antonio News-Express beat blog:

The Rampage efforts in their 4-1 win Saturday night did more to cloud the roster picture than clear it up. Some players, like camp standout Brad Schell, who is trying to make the squad as a free agent walk on, are really making Greg Ireland and Ray Edwards stand up and take notice.

Schell scored a goal and an assist Saturday night after scoring a goal in Friday's shootout loss in Houston. Schell has limited AHL experience with the Chicago Wolves, but once scored 110 points in a season with Gwinnett (ECHL).

Another strong performance came from Derek Nesbitt, who we saw last season play with Rockford. Nesbitt seemed to have a terminal case of "Spina" disease, constantly flying up and down the wing, causing a Houston defender to garner a hooking penalty.

It doesn't say if they were on the same line, but it would only help them if they were, since they played together with the Gladiators. I have a feeling this may finally be Schell's year to stick in the AHL.
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Shoving time

When push comes to shove, that's when the dominoes finally start moving. It's a real interesting time of year when hockey teams from top to bottom have to make some hard choices. Brian Burke has to decide who to keep to get under the cap, and it all trickles down.

Former Thrasher prospect Karl Stewart was out of a job until this week. He's signed an AHL deal with Rochester. Mike Hamilton has signed with ECHL's Las Vegas. Ryan Daniels, who attended Thrashers prospect camp and Traverse City this year, is on a tryout with the ECHL Phoenix RoadRunners.

A lot of people have been asking about Mike Vigilante. Christine Troyke put out her story on this today. The Gladiators are citing his concussions as for why they aren't bringing back their captain. The potential insurance liability isn't mentioned, but I would think that would tie in too.

I had my own hockey game to play in tonight, and I happened to get my bell rung a bit. I was hit in open ice by this guy Ted who weighs only about a buck fifty but he's fast so if you know your physics, that's more kinetic energy acting on me (velocity matters more than mass). It's a no-check league and he's a former teammate so he was all "Sorry, Holly" right away -- I think he just didn't see me. Ted is a good parking lot guy, but as a former roller hockey player, not so good with the stopping.

I still have a headache hours later. So, it makes the issue very immediate to me and my feeling on Vig is that independent of whatever Jeff Pyle thinks, I would hope Vig would err on the side of not playing given his concussion history. He's got the whole rest of his life to live and he needs a clear head for that.

Next item: A.J. Thelen. The ECHL Florida Everblades are patting themselves on the back for signing the former Minnesota first rounder. In the press release, Malcolm Cameron says, "He originally was going to play this season in Austria, but decided to come back to North America to try and achieve his goal of playing in the NHL." -- That sounds really noble of him, but it's not quite accurate. Word on the street is that he looked awful in Austria and didn't make it past the tryout.

Hopefully AHL teams will start making some substantial cuts quickly. The Gladiators have what has to be the sorriest beginning training camp roster ever in their history.

Edit to add: here's some audio of Brad Schell at San Antonio camp. He sounds pretty relaxed.

Lastly, the Central Hockey League players are on strike. It's probably obvious that the current economy isn't the best time to be striking.
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